The Eyes of a God
by Pengping
Summary: One-shot. This is the story, retold by Leif's point of view, of how he became god-touched. It is how he went from being a normal Berserker to a special gifted one. This is the story that started the god's interest, and interference, in the Berserker tribe. It is part of my universe: "Walking a Dagur's Edge Between Peace and War."


My name is Leif Daceson of the Berserker Tribe, and I am god-touched. I was born on the Winter Solstice nine years ago, but the day I truly began to live was the day I died. On the day I died, one of our gods snatched my soul from Hel's hands and brought me back to life.

I don't talk about it, but I remember the day that happened. I had tagged along with Dagur and my older brother, Willem, when they went out dragon hunting. They didn't realize I was shadowing them until the Monstrous Nightmare they were stalking turned on me and tore my chest open with its claws.

They managed to force the dragon to retreat, and came to my side as my blood fed the ground. My chest hurt so bad that I ceased to feel pain. I remember vaguely that Willem and Dagur were kneeling by my side, and Willem was shouting at me to try and keep me conscious. I think he had a grip on my hand while Dagur tore open my tunic to look at the wounds. Their efforts were in vain however, and everything faded away as I entered a world of white.

When you pass out or go to sleep everything turns black, so I knew that the wave of white that washed over me was death. All around me was the same soft white light, and I felt like I was floating. I wanted to try to move my body, but for some reason could not muster the will to do so.

I remember suddenly feeling someone set his hand on my shoulder, and a ripple distorted the blank white space I had slipped into. The white faded, and I was left standing on a clear surface. Above was a thick haze of unbroken grey clouds and below was a blue cloud-filled sky. It was almost as if I was looking down at the ocean from a place above the clouds. Someone had grounded me with their touch, and I was now able to move and think.

I turned curiously to see who it was that had helped me, and saw a slim, but not scrawny, clean-shaven man in his early twenties. He had long raven-black hair combed back from his forehead that reached his shoulders and curled slightly at the tips. His clothing was different from anything I had seen before, a green long-sleeve shirt and black jacket decorated with splashes of green and threaded with gold. Its lower hem reached his knees, and he wore black pants and matching boots that reached mid-way to his knees. The most stunning thing about him though was his crystalline emerald-black eyes that seemed to glitter as if they were made out of jewels. There was a dagger sheathed on each of his thighs, but they seemed to be his only weapons.

The man apprised me to make sure that I was alright, and when he decided I was he laughed quietly. "Hel is going to kill me for trouncing on her authority like this."

The casual edge to his voice when he said the name of the Goddess of Death startled me again, and I swallowed. Who was this man that spoke so lazily about Hel, and what was I doing here? I tried to speak my question, but my voice remained silent against my will and my lips would not even move.

"You're in a place between dimensions, and a human like you can't speak here." The man warned me with a wave of one finger as if he were scolding me.

I turned from the man and looked at the odd world around me. The glass floor and white cloudy sky spread off as far as I could see in every direction. The only dimensions I knew were the dimension of the mortals and the gods, and this man was saying that I was no longer in the mortal's dimension. How could that be?

I looked back at the man who claimed to have brought me here, hoping for answers. There was something elusive about him, and so I was pleasantly surprised when he started to speak.

"This is where we come to watch the mortal world." He said and motioned to the glass floor that I could now see reflected the islands of the Archipelago as well as the clouds. "We will be left in peace here, for a little while at least. Odin will find me before long as he always does, and I can only imagine how displeased he will be for me interfering."

I slowly lifted my eyes from the floor that showed my world back to the man. He had crossed is arms behind his head and slouched his stance, staring off into the distance as he pondered on his thoughts. Had he just said Odin? My hand began to shake when I realized he had also called me a mortal, and spoken Hel's name in the same casual manner. Was this man standing before me… a god?

The man tilted his head slightly at me, and seemed to smile at my thought. His canines were sharp as wolf fangs. I stepped back, startled by his reaction, and the man lowered his arms to his sides as he turned to face me. Was I right then, and this man was one of the gods?

"I suppose I better explain a little," the god sighed in a light humored manner. "Yes mortal, you are dead. I stole your soul quite literally from Hel's hands, and she won't be pleased with me for doing that just as Odin won't be pleased I'm interfering with the mortal world. I'm going to resurrect you, and give you a second lifespan."

I was going to receive a second lifespan? The words murmured around my thoughts as the idea that I was going to be resurrected, even after being killed, began to sink in. Who was this god, and why was he choosing me?

"I'm choosing you because you're a Berserker," the god said as if to answer my unspoken thought.

That was not the answer I was expecting, and I suppose my blank look prompted him to elaborate. He was a god and didn't have to explain himself to a mere mortal like me, but he did anyway.

"Most people chose Thor, Frigga, Odin, Baldur, or one of them to be their patron god," the god before me explained in a soft tone. "There's a girl in your tribe who choose me, and she didn't do it because she wanted to cause mischief or strife. She believes in me, and she's one of the only ones that does. Stars know none of the other gods are fond of me."

I listened to his explanation, but my curiosity only grew when I saw the god look away as if ashamed. This was not how I expected a god to act.

"I want to help her," the god said, his voice suddenly strong, "and I'm going to use you to do so."

Me? I hesitated at his statement, and the sudden strength in his magical eyes. What was he going to do me exactly, and who was he even talking about?

"I'm not going to hurt you," the god promised, and raised a hand as if to comfort me when he saw my alarm. "I already said I'm going to return you to Midgard, and I will. You're just not going to be completely mortal anymore."

That did not explain anything for me, and I gave him an even more disbelieving and confused look then I had a second ago.

"I'm going to give you some of my power," the god explained slowly for my benefit, "because you will have that you won't be completely mortal anymore. You'll be god-touched. This is hardly the first time we've done something like this."

That did make a little sense, and I nodded slowly for him to go on.

"I'm going to give you second sight," the god announced, "the power to see the future… with my help. You'll be able to see things before they happen, and other things mortals do not normally see. With what you see you can help your family, your tribe, and the girl who believes in me."

The future… I was going to have the ability to see the future? This was becoming more and more unrealistic, but at the same time more and more amazing.

"It's odd really," the god admitted with a smile, "but I think that out of all the tribes in the Barbaric Archipelago you Berserkers are my favorite. Thor's the warrior, and something of a Berserker himself, so you'd think that he would like you best, yet it's me. I'm the mage and the trickster, the subtle one who works from the shadows, using my intellect before my weapons."

I looked up at his declaration, and I knew at last which god this was whom I was speaking to. The god seemed amused by my reaction, as if agreeing to my guess. Shards of glittering power the same shade as his eyes sparkled about him and the god reached up and curled his hand around just one of the sparkles.

"By the way," the god added as if an afterthought as he stepped closer to me. "You're right little mortal. I am Loki."

With that by way of a goodbye, Loki set the hand that he held the sparkle of power in on my head as if to ruffle my hair. The sparkling fragment of his power hit me as it intertwined itself with my soul, and I doubled over and collapsed to my knees at the sheer rush of power that flowed through my blood. All my other senses vanished, washed away by the sheer strength contained within the one small sparkling fragment. I fell onto my side, unable to focus my sight or move, unable to scream from the power as it laced through my body.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for my brother as he knelt by my body. One moment I was dead, and the next I was breathing. All I know was that I heard Dagur jump back with a yelp and fall over when I opened my eyes, I scared him so badly.

Willem sat on his knees next to me, staring with just as much shock as Dagur as I sat up. Then he seemed to come to his senses and helped me sit up, supporting me while I re-oriented myself. I looked between Willem and Dagur in confusion, and then I remembered my conversation with Loki and looked down at myself.

My tan tunic was in ribbons and so soaked with blood that it was pooling on the ground, yet when I touched my chest I found no wounds. Loki really had healed me. The tunic's sorry state was all that remained of the Monstrous Nightmare's strike.

Willem reached out with a trembling hand and touched my neck, as if to assure himself that I had a heartbeat. Then he pulled me into a deep hug. I let him, still thinking about Loki and his words.

Willem carried me back to the village on his back as if he was scared of letting me walk, and took me straight to Jodi so she could look me over. Despite her aghast reaction to my tunic, she found that once the tunic was removed and the blood washed away there were no wounds, not even faint scars. I knew it was because of Loki, but how was I going to explain his interference when I still didn't even know who he wanted to help?

I realized "the girl" Loki meant only a few minutes later when Dagur and Willem were telling Jodi what had happened and Kata walked in. She had badly scraped her right arm when she had been practicing her back handspring, and wanted Jodi to patch it up because she thought it might need stitches. I saw the daggers Kata always wore on her side, one on each thigh, and understood. Loki had been talking about her. He had done all of this for her.

Kata started staring at me to, and Jodi finally fished out a mirror from her room to let me look at my reflection. My fine hair was no longer dark brown. Now it was the same white as the world I had been in when I had died, the world Loki's touch had pulled me from. When I looked closer I realized that my eyes were no longer completely brown. There were fragments of emerald-black in them that sparkled just as Loki's power had.

I told Jodi, Willem, Dagur, and Kata about the Æsir god who had brought me back from the dead, but I did not tell them that it was Loki who had done it. They came to believe me after I started having my visions soon enough, although it was more difficult to explain to the rest of the Berserkers why my hair was now white.

When my first vision came, I was downstairs in my home sitting by the hearth. The pain from seeing the future through Loki's power almost made me pass out and I was unable to stay on my feet. Arin and Merrik found me lying on the floor, and they dragged Willem from his room where he had been sleeping and brought me to Jodi's. She explained to them the real reason why my hair was now white.

Once I was able, I told them that through the pain I had seen that a pirate ship going to land here tonight under the new moon. They were planning to set fire to the armory to soften us up for a full-scale attack. Willem told Oswald about my warning without actually telling him that I had seen the future, but Oswald dismissed him since he didn't have any proof. He was always near-sighted like that, assuming that because he attacked no one that no one would attack him. It was naïve.

Dagur had overheard though, and he knew about my visions. He knew that Willem was repeating something I had seen, and he believed me when I said there was going to be an attack. With Oswald unwilling to help, Dagur assembled a party with himself, Willem, Merrik, Kata, and Arin. The group had lain in wait where I told them the ship was going to land, and once it appeared they drove it away from our shores.

When they returned to the village, they didn't breathe a word about the attack they had headed off. If they did then some might begin to ask how they knew, and my name would inevitably come up. Jodi was right when she warned Dagur to "shut it." There were many adults in this world who use my sight for their own gains. Alvin the Treacherous, leader of the new Outcast Tribe, would kill to have a prophet under his control, and there were likely others. It was dangerous for word of my powers to be known, so the group decided to keep it a secret.

Kata and Dagur later told their uncle, Captain Vorg, about my visions. He did not betray our trust, and it was nice to have one adult on our side who understood the situation. No one else has been told, and the rest of the village believes I'm epileptic. It's a small price to pay to have the power Loki gave me.

Loki was right when he said I could handle the fragment of his power he gave me. Even if the adults shake their head at me and say "poor child" I know better. My friends help me interpret the scattered images in my visions and make sure that what I see does not come to pass.

We don't always manage it. My mother Siv died just as I saw because I interpreted a vision wrong, and inadvertently caused her death. Oswald's second wife Irene was taken by dragons – though to be fair I don't think Dagur and Kata were trying all that hard to save their stepmother.

There's no warning when my visions happen, no specific time of day. Loki sends me them to, but he can only do it when there's something worth warning me about, and when Odin isn't watching. No explanation was ever given to the villagers to explain why me brown hair had turned white, and after a while the questions faded away and everyone simply got used to it.

The group that knows about my new sight says the burden is a heavy one, but I don't agree. My new sight helps me protect my tribe and my family. It warns me of coming danger – of the bad surprises – and so most of the scattered images that appear in my mind are colored red. A few nightmares are a small price to pay to make sure that what I see does not come to pass.

I can do more than see my scattered visions though I have never told anyone about it. With my new eyes imbued by Loki's magic, I can see things mortals aren't supposed to. Sometimes I see mere shadows writhing in the corner of my sight, and sometimes I can see the Æsir as they walk on this earthly plane. They are hidden from the sight of other mortals so they can watch us unnoticed, but I can see them. They know I can see them, and it troubles them.

The other gods of Asgard know Loki was the one who resurrected me and gave me this new power. Loki got in trouble for bringing me back just as he thought he would, but he's always in trouble so he took it in stride. Æsir aren't supposed to interfere with our lives, but he did. My fate was to be slain by a dragon, but he brought me back anyway with my new gift.

When I was brought to Asgard by Tyr and Odin asked me why Loki had brought me back, I told him: he did it for Kata. She believes in him when so few do. The other Æsir consider Loki a nuisance, and most of the humans who believe in him do so because they want to cause strife themselves. He's not just a nuisance or a god of mischief though. As I have learned, Loki is far more than that.

Unlike what some mutter, Loki is not evil. He is the God of Mischief and Lies because that is simply his nature. Many think that he does no good, but Loki was the one who brought me back from death and gave me this sight, this piece of his own power, so I could help my tribe.

I think the others gods are just jealous of Loki because of all the gods, he is by far the cleverest. He knew that interfering directly for us, like using his power to wipe out our opponents with a wave of his hand, would get him and us in trouble. Rather than do something like that he gave me my sight. This way he can help us without getting in too much trouble. Loki is a clever god like that.

There is one vision I have gotten several times now that confuses me, and instead of being a few days in the future I think it's going to happen sometime next year. Even today, I can see events leading to my vision. Several chances have come up for me to stop it, but I haven't stopped it. Nor have I told anyone about it.

In a year's time, Dagur will kill Oswald. I know this for a fact. Since I have not stopped it, I know it will come to pass. This is one vision I don't intend to stop. Dagur will make a better chief and he's not scared to fight. Unlike Oswald the " _Agreeable_ ", he won't roll over while the pirates raid us.

I'm a little troubled by my vision though because I know that once Dagur becomes chief, the archipelago will be immersed in war. It's not a normal war and for some reason I hear dragon roars echoing as if they are going to play a part in the war. I can't see how the war ends, but it's kind of fun for me to not know the ending for once. We're the Berserkers, and I'm confident we're strong enough to win any war we're in.

My name is Leif Daceson, and I am a member of the Berserker tribe. I carry Loki's blessing with me, and no matter what Odin or Thor tells me I believe it is a good thing. With his power in my soul, I will protect my home.

I might be just a mortal, but do not underestimate me, for I am god-touched by the cleverest of all the Æsir, and I have the eyes of a god!

* * *

 **Here is the backstory for Leif's visions. Dagur is fourteen and Kata is ten. Leif is six when he first dies, and so only has a child's understanding and innocence of this. He grows up quickly though after this, at least mentally. By the time of _"Walking a Dagur's Edge"_ he is physically nine, but more mentally mature ****then Dagur - who is seventeen.**

 **This takes place one year before Dagur's premier in the episode " _Twinsanity_." The dragons that Lief hears in the background of his vision are Berk's Dragon Academy. Just as Leif believes, Berk's dragons do play a roll in the Berserker War that Dagur starts once he becomes king. If you think his visions aren't accurate then you're horridly mistaken.**

 **The name "Leif" is pronounced as "leaf."**


End file.
